AustLII Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback

Alternative Law Journal

Alternative Law Journals (AltLJ)
You are here:  AustLII >> Databases >> Alternative Law Journal >> 2003 >> [2003] AltLawJl 24

Database Search | Name Search | Recent Articles | Noteup | LawCite | Author Info | Download | Help

La Forgia, Rebecca --- "Child Asylum Seekers Living in Limbo by Katherine Goode" [2003] AltLawJl 24; (2003) 28(2) Alternative Law Journal 100

Reviews


Child Asylum Seekers Living in Limbo

by Katherine Goode; Action for Children SA, Australian Refugee Association Inc, Children and the Law Committee of the Law Society of South Australia, 2002; 48 pp; $10.00 (available from the South Australian Migration Museum and the Australian Refugee Association).

Child Asylum Seekers Living in Limbo is a short book that can be read in one sitting. It is a text that is suitable for school students, community organisations and anyone who is interested in knowing about Australia's asylum laws and policies and how they affect children. Although it is brief, it is not superficial. It has distilled the laws, policies and history relating to our treatment of asylum seekers, so that even those who are involved in the area would benefit from reading it.

The thesis of the book is summarised in the foreword: 'children should never be held in immigration detention but they are. It is an indictment on Australia and our lack of imagination and resourcefulness as a nation that this situation continues' (p.2). The book's style is to describe both the law and relevant statistics while interweaving the personal accounts of children held in immigration detention. Consequently Child Asylum Seekers leaves readers satisfied that they are more informed in an overall sense. The book is divided into II sections. The primary sections are Background, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Who are Asylum Seekers? The Legal Maze, Living in Detention and Leaving Woomera. The concluding sections cover Alternative Detention Models and Resources.

The Background section discusses current Australian policy towards asylum seekers and includes the following quote:
These people ... are not political refugees ... we have an orderly migration program. We're not going to allow people just to jump that queue by saying we'll jump into a boat ... [p.9]

This could be a quote from the Tampa incident but is in fact a quote from Prime Minister Hawke speaking about Cambodian refugees who arrived in Australia between November I989 and January 1994. What I find revealing in reading this section is the care that should be taken when making divisive policies, for it is the language of the above quote and the method of creating legalistic and restrictive categories in the Migration Act that were to echo in the Tampa incident and the Pacific Solution.

The section 'Refugees and Asylum Seekers' details the text of the Refugee Convention. The section then explains the possible categories of applicant. There are applicants who are offshore and those who are onshore with documentation. Both of these categories can apply for permanent protection visas. Then there are those who 'flee from their homeland and stay in a second country for more than seven days before travelling to Australia [who] are categorised as engaging in secondary movement' (p.10). It is this category of asylum seekers who are placed in mandatory detention and may only apply for a three-year temporary protection visa (TPV). The sting in the tail of this policy is that this category of person may only ever apply for a three-year protection visa. This aspect of the policy is dealt with throughout the book, but in particular in the section dealing with 'Leaving Woomera'. In this section several points are highlighted: first, the fact that those on TPVs are entitled to fewer services than those on permanent visas. This is despite the fact that individuals on TPVs have been found to be refugees. Second, the damaging effects of uncertainty are documented, for example, a teacher of children on TPVs states 'as educators one of our roles is to give kids hope, life-long learning and an opportunity for the future ... but these kids can't even begin to think about the future because they're disempowered by their TPV status' (p.36).

The section entitled 'Living in Detention' describes life for a child in Woomera (the federal government has announced this centre will be closed), but would equally apply to any immigration detention centre. Personal accounts describe the imagery of authority, razor wires, the psychological problems that arise from uncertainty and prison-like conditions, the lack of trees, the sense of despair and the lack of education. The long-term impact of this detention is also touched on.

The question of why we hold children in detention, raises the related question of what is our responsibility to recreate different, workable policies and how do we go about doing that? Reading and disseminating Child Asylum Seekers Living in Limbo is a good place to start. This is a balanced book that seeks to inform the reader by citing relevant facts and through recording the testimony of children and those involved in immigration detention. The book paints a poignant picture of our harsh laws that detain children and also provide them with an uncertain future.

REBECCA LA FORGIA

Rebecca La Forgia teaches law at Flinders University.


AustLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/2003/24.html